Eggplant and Acorn Squash: Practically the Same

I have a new cooking strategy that I think might be an awesome fit for me. Instead of looking up cool recipes and then going to go buy the ingredients, I have been implementing the following strategy in my most recent cooking. Buy some ingredient/s and then find some creative way to use it. I find this way more fun and I feel like it sort of makes up for my lack of problem solving that I do at work.

This past weekends trip to Haymarket inspired me to buy two things of note. First and once again, not related to the recipe below, a crate of mangos. I bought four mangos last week and was pretty successfully brainwashing myself that with mangos I never need dessert again. But I only had four mangos... so the end of the week was rough. However, at Haymarket I found a crate of stellar mangos- 9 mangos for $6. This will hopefully get me through the week and I can complete my brainwashing. My plan is flawless. Until I return to Ithaca, then I'll have a problem. But I'm living in the now.

The other purchase of note was an eggplant. It was a dollar and a total impulse buy, sort of like my teal pants that I also bought this weekend... The 12ish year old girl that was manning the station even asked me what I was going to do with the eggplant, probably because I was looking at it strangely/impulsively (if that is possible when looking at an eggplant) and I told her that I had no idea. However as I looked up cool ways to use an eggplant, interesting ideas formulated and I settled on modifying the below recipe.

I think if I wasn't co-blogging with my ex-roommates I would maybe title my blog: The Impatient Cook: Haste still Tastes. But in my defense, I cook for myself and I cook dinner after running and I'm always super hungry. Be warned, I cut corners.

First I cut my eggplant in half (funny enough I managed to do this incorrectly, more on this later)

Half an eggplant- Don't cut it like this

I literally poured oil on my hand and slathered my eggplant. Very elegant.  I then threw the eggplant in the oven so that I could take my shower. After my shower, I cut up TJ's sweet apple chicken sausage and onions. The recipe calls for way more sausage but, as with bacon, I ration my sausage so I filled with onions. Which turned out to be an excellent call as the sausage is amazingly flavored and flavored the onions.

Before

After!

At this point, I cut up a slice of sandwich bread and threw this in the oven with the eggplant to make the bread crumbs. After everything cooked, I put everything everything in a bowl: sausage, onions, breadcrumbs, added approx 1/3 cup marinera sause, and a handful of cheese. After I had eaten some of the filling and the eggplant had cooled I added an egg.

When I had taken the eggplant out, I realized my mistake. It would have been smarter to cut the eggplant lengthwise instead of in half... I was in an acorn squash mindset. However I rallied, scooped out the insides of my bowl with less volume. I filled my eggplant bowl, overflowing with filling and precariously placed some more cheese on top before placing it in the over.

Before...

After!!

Despite my blunder which hindered food presentation, this stuffed eggplant was phenomenal. I'm super excited that I have another half an eggplant. I was planning on making eggplant pizzas, but realistically, I'm probably just make this again. Maybe I put some mushrooms in place of some of the onions, because then that would totally count as a whole new recipe.  But really, try this.

This picture does not do this dish justice

INGREDIENTS:

1 (1 1/2 pound) eggplant, halved lengthwise 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/8 teaspoon black pepper 2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs 2 cups spaghetti sauce, divided 1 cup mozzarella cheese, divided 1 egg, beaten

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2.	Brush cut sides of eggplant with olive oil and place, cut-side up onto a baking sheet. Roast in preheated oven for 30 minutes, then remove and allow to cool slightly.
3.	Meanwhile, brown the Italian sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat; drain off the grease. Place into a mixing bowl, and season with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and pepper. Stir in bread crumbs, 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce, 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese, and the beaten egg; mix well.
4.	Once the roasted eggplant has cooled enough to handle, scoop out the flesh to within 1/2-inch of the skin to create a shell. Roughly chop the eggplant meat, and fold into the sausage mixture. Divide evenly among the two eggplant shells, and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.
5.	Bake in preheated oven until the filling has set, and the cheese is bubbly and golden-brown, about 30 minutes. While the eggplant is baking, warm the remaining spaghetti sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat to serve with the eggplant.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?recipeID=133722&origin=detail&servings=2&metric=false